


Father knows best

by TsukimoriMadoka



Category: Bleach
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Rangiku seemed to like it.., Ryuuken can be nice, don't eat anything Hime makes, set after Fake Karakura Arc, unless you're a Shinigami
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-12
Updated: 2021-02-12
Packaged: 2021-03-18 20:14:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,458
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29374428
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TsukimoriMadoka/pseuds/TsukimoriMadoka
Summary: Entry for the Seireitei Server Valentine's Day challenge based on prompt number two "Real Chocolate".~*~*~Uryuu eyed the bag in his hands as he turned it around. It was a see-through plastic one, adorned with a light blue bow to close it. On the inside, he saw chocolate. Clearly self-made and it made him nervous. Not because he had gotten chocolate, on Valentine’s day on top of that, but because of the fact that he knew Orihime wasn't the best at cooking. And now she made chocolate?
Relationships: Inoue Orihime/Ishida Uryuu
Comments: 4
Kudos: 9
Collections: The Seireitei Server Valentine's Writing and Art Challenge 2021





	Father knows best

The exchange Ryuuken watched was oddly amusing to him. 

He had decided to pick his son up from school spontaneously. Whether it was his bad conscience or actual worry, at this point differentiating between the two felt impossible. After the whole incident with Uryuu accompanying the Kurosaki kid to the Soul Society and afterward to Hueco Mundo before ultimately the fight was brought to their home, Ryuuken had been left a little nervous. Not that he would admit it to his son. But he felt like he hadn't done enough to prepare Uryuu in the past. And neither had he spent time with him in a way a father should have done. 

Ryuuken felt like he needed to change that. Picking his son up was something he figured was easy to do. No matter how hard it was for him. 

When he spotted Uryuu leaving the school, he watched as a young girl ran after him. 

Inoue Orihime. 

The very same girl who had been kidnapped, brought to Hueco Mundo and his son decided to rescue. 

He was aware it was a group effort, but at this moment all Ryuuken saw was her running after his son, bowing slightly and handing him a small bag before running off with a friend leaving Uryuu with the faintest smile and maybe even a tinge of red color on his face. 

Uryuu eyed the bag in his hands as he turned it around. It was a see-through plastic one, adorned with a light blue bow to close it. On the inside, he saw chocolate. Clearly self-made and it made him nervous. Not because he had gotten chocolate, on Valentine’s day on top of that, but because of the fact that he knew Orihime wasn't the best at cooking. And now she made chocolate? 

It seemed unwise to eat them. However, looking at the contents of the bag, Uryuu could easily tell that she had put a lot of work into making these. It looked like she tried to make some flower-shaped, even a little bow which looked a bit crooked. He didn't mind. It was nice to see she had given it so much thought and tried to make something for him specifically. The blue ribbon was an indicator for that as well. 

Turning his attention from the gift to the street, he saw his father leaning against the car, a cigarette between his fingers. He could already tell that his father was amused, so he reluctantly moved towards him, trying to hide the chocolate.

"I don't want to talk about this", he said to make his point clear when reaching the car. 

Taking a drag from his cigarette, Ryuuken followed his son with his eyes as he walked around the car to get in on the passenger side. All he did was chuckle before getting in the car as well. 

"She's cute."

"Father."

A smile. "I'm just saying. She's the girl you guys went to Hueco Mundo for, is it not?" Ryuuken put the seat belt on before starting the car. 

"She is."

"You should get her chocolate in return."

"It would give her the wrong impression."

"You're telling me you don't have some kind of romantic feelings for her?", that surprised him. He could have sworn that his son wasn't acting out of friendship when helping her, but out of love. Maybe he was getting old and couldn't differentiate between the two anymore. Especially when it came to teenagers. Things seemed to be a lot different back in his youth, though he was certain it was still common to give the girl you liked something back on White Day. Even more so when she got you something first. 

"Even if I had", Uryuu propped his head on his hand as he leaned against the window, staring out of it. "She has feelings for someone else."

Putting out the cigarette in the ashtray, Ryuuken was confused. "She gave you chocolate. And by the look of it, it's self-made", he had to admit from what he was able to see it looked a little off-putting. "That has to account for something."

"She gave all her friends chocolate. She said it was a 'thank you' for helping and not abandoning her", not that he ever could. Neither would Ichigo or Chad. Even Rukia and Renji came to help, though Uryuu wasn't sure if they only came because they thought of Orihime as a friend or because of their friendship with Ichigo. The young Quincy wasn't sure if Orihime and Renji had ever spoken to each other. With Rukia it was different. He knew that the Shinigami was indeed friends with Orihime. To the point that she would try the cooking escapades without flinching. 

It made Uryuu wonder if Shinigami stomachs worked differently. 

He was pretty sure that Rangiku didn't mind Orihime's cooking either when she and Toushirou stayed with the girl. 

Ryuuken looked at his son for a short moment before focusing on the street again. No matter how estranged they were, and no matter how strict he was, he did care about his son. He wanted him to succeed, to be happy. 

"I still think you should give her something back. As a little token of paying attention to her. She might not be as skilled of a fighter as you, but I have no doubt that without her your group of friends would be lost", credit should be given where credit was due. The girl's abilities were unlike anything he had seen before. "I have some conferences in Europe I have to attend. I will pick up some actual chocolate after doing some research on the stores close to the places I will be at. That by the way", he pointed at the bag his son was trying to hide. "Does not look like chocolate. If you intend to eat it and end up with food poisoning, don't tell me I didn't warn you."

"She made it herself", Uryuu turned towards his father. "Whether it looks like chocolate or not.. I do appreciate the work she put into it." No matter how bad it might taste, he was willing to risk a case of food poisoning. 

Ryuuken sighed. "And you're trying to tell me you don't like her? You're a bad liar."

**~*~**

Out of all places to pick out chocolate from, his father had to go to a small store in Paris. 

A part of Uryuu appreciated that his father didn't just go to any chocolate store. He had told him he would do research on the topic after all, so maybe he should have expected this? His father wouldn't settle for any chocolate, no, it had to be the best. And Uryuu was actually happy that he bought something even though he didn't want him to at first. When Ryuuken said he would get something, despite all his son’s protests, Uryuu was still a bit hesitant about everything regarding the chocolate, Valentine's and White Day because it felt wrong to give Orihime something back with a different intention than she had in mind when giving him her self-made one. The chocolate Ryuuken had picked out was screaming 'love' and not just 'friendship'. 

He actually had brought a little extra for Uryuu to taste and it was, hands down, the best chocolate he had ever tried. Clearly what Orihime had made couldn't hold up with the taste and the smell, but it was made with just as much love and care.

All Uryuu had to do now was to find Orihime, give her the chocolate, and retreat before embarrassing himself. 

He had waited all day. Or rather, he had waited until the very last moment to seek her out. Over the course of the day he had seen a few girls receiving chocolate. Some were happy about it, others embarrassed that everyone watched them as one of the students gave them a present. Waiting for everyone to leave and catch Orihime when she was alone seemed the best way to go. He didn't want her to think that she had no choice but to accept his gift. 

Because she certainly did have a choice. 

Everyone did in fact but having an audience put a lot of pressure on people and they felt like there was no other answer but a 'yes' to whatever the question was. Uryuu believed that based on their age, all students should be able to handle a 'no' just fine. He knew it was different and also harder than it sounded in his head. Would he be okay with a no? 

He liked to believe so. Maybe because he knew his chances were very slim from the get-go. If anything, he would be able to thank Orihime for her help. The 'break-in' into the Soul Society was something that kept repeating in Uryu's head every once in a while. Especially the encounter with the 12th Division Taichou and his subordinates right before he stepped out in the open. Without Orihime that would have taken a different turn of events.

It took Uryuu some time to find Orihime inside the school building. At one point he had asked Tatsuki as she ran past him, cursing herself because she was too late for practice. All she did was to shout which classroom her friend was in right now, then she wished him good luck. Was it that obvious what he was here for? He hoped not. Given that Orihime and Tatsuki were best friends, the dark-haired girl probably knew of her friend's feelings for Ichigo. Uryuu took a deep breath before following the given directions and continuing his way, telling himself he could do this. 

Orihime was cleaning the classroom on her own when Uryu poked his head through the door after finally finding her. The girl who was supposed to help with the cleaning had done so for a bit before asking if it was okay for her to leave as she needed to pick up her younger sibling. Most of the classroom was in order, so Orihime said it was no problem. The little bit of sweeping that needed to be done was nothing she couldn't do on her own. And so, while walking through the room, broom in hand, she found herself humming and looking out the window every once in a while. 

"Inoue-san?" 

The girl stopped dead in her tracks, jumping slightly at the voice. Looking over her shoulder she saw Uryuu standing in the doorframe giving her an apologetic look. 

"I'm sorry if I startled you."

"Don't worry Ishida-kun!", she smiled brightly. "I thought you would've already gone home by now? Did you forget something?" 

"In a way, yes", he stepped inside the room. "Do you need help?" 

"No, I'm almost done. Thank you", she continued to sweep the floor. She figured she would be done with it in a handful of minutes and that Uryuu simply had left a book he wanted to pick up, which is why she didn't pay attention to him while finishing the cleaning. Only when she put the broom away and went to collect the dirt, she noticed that he hadn't moved. "Ishida-kun? Is everything okay? You look paler than usual."

Once again he took a deep breath. 

Then he nodded. 

Pulling out a small box he had hid behind his back, Uryuu stepped closer and held the item out for Orihime to take. 

Her eyes moved to the box. It was this beautiful dark blue color with gold designs on it. A small red bow stuck on the upper left corner. 

"This is for you", he bowed his head. 

".. Ishida-kun..", Orihime's hands moved to take the box from him. Her eyes wandered from Uryuu to the box and back. The slight reddish color on his cheeks didn't go unnoticed by her and at this point, she felt a warm and fuzzy feeling spreading through her body. She hadn't expected to get anything in return from any of her friends. Especially since she had made it clear that the chocolate she had given them was to thank them for being her friends. For helping her. 

As if he was able to read her mind, he answered her. "I know the meaning behind your action was not.. meant in a romantic way", Uryuu felt his whole body warm-up. Saying the words out loud was far from comfortable to him. Maybe it was the way he was raised. The fact that his father rarely ever spoke of his own feelings or told Uryuu that he was proud of him. That he loved him. And so that circumstance, of not being in a position where he was shown love, expressing his own felt almost wrong. "The truth is.. uhm.. I think I like you Inoue-san."

She looked at him with wide eyes. Unable to speak a word and so it ended with them looking at each other in silence. 

Silence which made Uryuu almost go and bail but he stopped himself from doing so. There was no way he could back out now. To run away and leave her standing in the classroom alone. Orihime didn't deserve that. 

He wanted to stand by her side. Protect her. 

Not because he believed that she wasn't able to protect herself, but because he didn't want to see her get hurt. Seeing her hurt or in distress, did hurt him as well. It made him feel like he had failed as a friend. As someone she trusted. A voice kept telling him that she didn't deserve anything bad happening to her as she already had been through so much. If he could be the person to stay at her side.. 

For a while, he was able to ignore those thoughts and feelings. 

Then she gave him chocolate on Valentine’s day and his father, who saw it, began to pester him about the exchange. 

And it was good that things happened this way. Uryuu had to acknowledge that. Albeit reluctantly. 

"I don't know what to say."

"That's okay.. I don't.. want to put you in a situation that makes you feel uncomfortable or anything", he held his hands up and stepped back a little. "I'm aware of your feelings for Kurosaki. I would be happy if you accepted the chocolate as a thank you even if you don't feel the same about me."

"But you don't have anything to thank me for. You are the one I have to thank. Neither you nor anyone else needed to go such lengths to rescue me", her eyes stared at the box of chocolates in her hands. She had agreed to follow Ulquiorra because he had told her that her friends would die if she didn't accompany him. And he had shown her what was happening at the very moment he had intercepted her on her way from the Soul Society back to Karakura. The pictures of bloodied and battered bodies of her friends.. she couldn't let them get killed because of her selfishness by refusing. No. She was fine with whatever would await her in Hueco Mundo if that meant to keep the people she cared about and loved safe from harm. 

Who wasn't fine with that decision were her friends. 

"How could we not?", Uryuu's words pulled her from her thoughts. "Do you think we would just sit back and let you get hurt? I followed Kurosaki to the Soul Society to help him rescue a Shinigami I didn't really know back then. How can I not rescue you, someone, I've known for longer and who I care about? It's what friends do, isn't it?"

She nodded. "I guess it is." Her eyes fell on the box once again. She had never gotten anything like this before. "Can I open it?" 

"Of course", he motioned at the box. "It's yours after all. I'm not going to stop you."

Smiling brightly Orihime carefully removed the stickers holding the box closed. As she removed the lid the smell of chocolate washed in her direction immediately. A thin golden paper was lying above the chocolate to protect it. The dark brown print spelling out a name she had never seen or heard. Only the city underneath was one she recognized. "Paris?" Uryuu pushed his glasses up and turned away. "Are those actually from Paris or are they sold here?" 

"My father might have.. picked them up while he was in Europe."

"I just made some simple chocolate for you!", she exclaimed, feeling embarrassed about the fact that she didn't get him or her other friends anything fancy like this. 

"Please don't worry, Inoue-san!", he began to wave his hands. "I loved the chocolate you gave me because it wasn't anything fancy as you call it, but something you made." He didn't want to tell her that it tasted a little off or that it made his stomach ache. He had eaten it anyway since he was too stubborn to not appreciate the time and effort she had put into it. Uryuu's father had tried a piece as well, immediately noticing that it didn't only look like it wasn't chocolate, but also didn't taste like it. 

_"I'll get you some real chocolate for her."_

Picking a piece of chocolate that had some red sprinkles on it, Orihime assumed it was some dried fruit, she put it into her mouth, letting it melt on her tongue. The flavor was unlike anything she had ever tasted. It was heaven. As she closed her eyes, she let out a content sigh. This was something she needed to savor. As much as she loved chocolate and could eat a lot of it in a short amount of time, this clearly wasn't meant for a night of chocolaty regrets. 

While Orihime was in her chocolate heaven, Uryuu figured it was time to go. He had done what he wanted to, meaning there was no reason for him to stay around longer than necessary. "Well, I'm glad you like the chocolate. I'll just.. leave you then", the words sounded more like a question than something he wanted to do, but at this point, he felt like he had overstepped several boundaries. They were friends after all. "Have a good day Inoue-san. I'll see you tomorrow."

Focusing on Uryuu, Orihime closed the box of chocolate, stuffed it into her bag, and walked after the male as he stepped out of the classroom and onto the hallway. 

"Ishida-kun wait!" She watched him turn around. His eyes showed a bit of surprise which she figured was because she followed him. "Would you mind walking home together?" 

His eyes widened, then he shook his head. "No, not at all."

Smiling slightly, Orihime took Uryu's hand, the warmth of his skin against hers made her heart beat faster. Yes, she had feelings for Ichigo. Uryuu was right when he mentioned that and even when talking to Tatsuki it came up because it was so obvious. But it didn't mean that she had no feelings for Uryuu and the truth was, after everything that happened during the past months, all the time spent together, the conversations, she felt a connection with the Quincy. One she was ready to explore. 

She had come to accept that her feelings for Ichigo were a teenage crush. Just like in any teen movie she had seen, with the exception that she wasn’t the girl he would end up with once all the hardship was over. Ichigo saw her as a friend. That had to be enough continuing from this point forward. Reality wasn’t like a movie where it would always look like people would get anything they wished for in the end. Teenage crushes would end and turn into a memory. But that was fine the moment she began to realize something:

when breaking it down to the core, all Orihime wanted was to be happy. And not to be alone. 

Uryuu made her happy. 

And he pushed the fear of being alone away. Be it by having her back in a fight, coming to Hueco Mundo, putting her wellbeing before his despite her protests to look after himself. Just talking to her or listening to her rambling about a show she had seen.

"There is a bakery close to the train station I pass on my way home. I sometimes stop by to get a piece of cake", she pulled her bag up over her shoulder, her attention resting on it for a second before turning to look at a blushing Uryuu who stared down at the hand Orihime was holding. "Maybe we could sit down and have some?" 

Smiling he spoke, eyes moving up to look at her face. "I would love that."


End file.
